Downtown Design Guidelines
Summary
The City Council has directed the Design Commission to develop Design Guidelines for downtown development.
Status
The Design Commission has a developed scope of work and a proposed work schedule. The Commission presented a status report of their work on the Design Guidelines to the City Council at their June 24 work session.
The Commission has also developed a list of nine Values that underpin a set of Goals and Guidelines. Those Values are:
- Sense of History
- Unique Character
- Authenticity
- Dense Urban Character
- Humane Character
- Safety
- Sustainability
- Diversity
- Economic Vitality
Issues
As part of their work, the Design Commission is developing a map defining the area where the Design Guidelines will apply. The Commission also expects to makes recommendations on which guidelines should be mandatory, advisory, or coupled with possible incentives for voluntary compliance.
Description
On November 6, 1997 the City Council approved a resolution stating that:
"The City Council requests that the Design Commission prepare draft design guidelines for the city's downtown region within 60 days; and that these guidelines should exemplify ideals such as a pedestrian and bicycle mobility and urban core vitality expressed through past Council actions, previous planning studies and recommendations and community consensus building exercises such as the Citizen's Planning Committee, the Heritage Society, and R/UDAT."
At one of their first meetings the Design Commission met with Heritage Austin to discuss the relationship between their development of design guidelines and Heritage Austin's broader planning process. The two groups plan to share space at the Storefront Community Design Center that Heritage Austin will be establishing on Congress Avenue.
Basic Data
- Project Contact: Michael Knox, Development Services Process Coordinator,
Planning, Environmental and Conservation Services Department, 499-6418
Revised July 29, 1998
Back to the July 1998 Contents
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